Going to Italy and teaching privately is what I have in mind after getting a bit more experience here in the UK. I came to that conclusion after seeing the rates of pay on offer and knowing someone who has just gone out there and is being crippled by the hours they are working. Do have any idea of the rates that can be charged for private lessons in the smaller Northern cities such as Bergamo, Bolzano, Trento etc?

Thanks
Sue

hi Sue,

it's true, the pay in most language schools is low, but what you get is more stability. when you have private classes, they can get cancelled at any time and of course you don't get paid when you don't teach !

but private classes always pay more money, and they are more flexible !

the aforementioned smaller Northern cities are all wealthy cities.....there are people there who make boatloads of money. in fact the entire region of Veneto (with towns such as Vicenza, Padova, etc.) and Trentino Alto Adige (with towns such as Bolzano, Trento, etc.) are known to be the wealthiest in the country.

that being said, I can't give you an exact figure but I would say as an absolute minimum DO NOT charge anything less than 15 Euro an hour.....I would go for 20 Euro an hour and perhaps more if you teach businesspeople

the people in those cities have money....this is not the south or Sicily we are talking about, we are talking about probably the wealthiest region in all of Europe !

unfortunately, however, those are small towns and from my experience the people there aren't as "open" and friendly as in other italian cities, to the south.....in fact I have friends from the towns you mentioned and even they admit this!

thanks for the advice Andrew? Are you still thinking of going to Genova? I've thought about that one and I'm also going to check out Bologna; Does anybody have any tips/advice on these towns? Is it just as hard to get an appt in Italy as Paris-do you need 3 mths worth of pay slips on top of 2/3 monts rent up front? Is flat-sharing common? here in Paris it's rare! Is basic (and I mean basic!) Italian enough to get a job or had I better start cramming?

Dear Karenh,

In Italy it is customary to include 2 months rent up front (as a deposit), in addition to the first month's rent. Of course there are probably exceptions to this "rule"......depending of course on who you know

Flat sharing is very common, and is almost a necessity unless you have a high-paying job.

If you are just sharing a room in a flat ("stanza in condivisione" or "camera singola"), I do not think you need 3 months of payslips, but if you are renting your own flat (what is called a "monolocale" or "bilocale") then you might need payslips, but I am not 100 per cent sure about that.

about learning Italian....the more you learn, the easier it will be for you.

Don't be like almost all of the anglophones, who don't bother learning Italian....people in Italy generally do not speak English !!!

so yes, it is necessary to learn Italian......but this question is asked time and again and it truly baffles me that people still ask this question.

could you imagine someone not knowing a word of Chinese and going to China? or not knowing any English and moving to the UK?

would life be easier for them if spoke the language? Of course it would.

you will see just how much better you are treated if you speak Italian....but don't take it from me, ask the others who live there/have lived there.

Good choice Karenh. Bologna is a much underated city, which is a good thing if you want to avoid anglophone tourists! It is not too big. However I believe that it is a little on the expensive side, but not as expensive as Milano. You may also consider the string of smaller cities along the Emilian rail line such as Modena Parma & Reggio. Getting between these cities is relatively easy.

Hi Andrew,

what's all this talk about Bologna??!?!

Do you really want to give away the best-kept secret about Italy?!?!

sure Bologna is expensive....but it is an absolute gem. where else could you find nearly 90,000 students. can you say "client base" ??

I would not go to Milano unless they paid me an extraordinary amount of money (and I do mean extraordinary). It's no surprise that even Italians speak poorly of Milano....

Here's some advice an Italian friend of mine gave me:

"Do not go to Milano unless it is for your job.....do not go to Roma unless you fall in love with it or with a wonderful girl....do not go to Firenze unless you love crowds and art.....but come to Bologna if you want a great quality of life."

I find that I'm drawn between a desire to share some insider knowledge about Italy on the one hand and on the other keep my discoveries to myself!

I concur with you on Milano - outrageously expensive! Another titbit of advice to Karenh. If you or anyone else has ever thought about teaching in Venezia think again. It is hideously expensive, you will be teaching and most likely living in Mestre, Venezia's grungie industrial daughter town, which has outgrown its mother - in fact you are unlikely to be setting foot much on la Serenissima's shores at all.

On the other hand just down the road is beautiful Padova, much less expensive, a proper university town and less tourist/anglophones to contend with!

Thanks for the reply. My choice of cities is not entirely unconnected with being a skier so your mention of Trento and Bolzano/Bozen piqued my interest. I wonder to what degree a knowledge of German is required in the Alto Adige - mine is limited to the 'ein bier vom fass' variety. My Italian is OK and even good enough to teach Italian evening classes in the UK. (I lived in Rome 36 years ago, which really proves that languages you learn young you remember!).

My other idea is buying a small cruising yacht and living and teaching in exciting places like erm.... La Spezia, but maybe that's just the Saturday night bottle of red talking...